HOYSALA TEMPLES - ART & CULTURE
News:
Three Hoysala temples of Karnataka inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites
What's in the news?
● The
Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebid, and
Somanathapura in Karnataka were declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in
a move that will bring global recognition with prospects of increase in
international tourism to these places.
Hoysala temples:
● Hoysala
temples are known for the rare beauty and finesse of their wall sculptures, and
have been described as “art which applies to stone the technique of the ivory
worker or the goldsmith”.
● The
Hoysalas held power in Karnataka from the 10th century to the 14th century.
● The
dynasty began as provincial governors
under the Western Chalukyas, but as the two dominant empires of the South,
the Western Chalukyas and the Cholas, crumbled, the Hoysalas established
themselves as rulers.
● Two
of the temples that made it to the UNESCO list are located in cities that
served as the capital of the Hoysalas — earlier Belur, and then Halebidu (or
Dwarasamudra).
● The
Chennakeshava temple, dedicated to Lord
Vishnu, was consecrated around 1117 AD by the mighty Hoysala king
Vishnuvardhana, to mark his victories against the Cholas. It is thus also
called the Vijaya Narayana temple.
● The
other Vaishnava shrine, the Kesava temple, was built in Somanathapura in 1268
by Somanatha, a general of Hoysala King
Narasimha III.
Hoysala
Architecture:
●
The Hoysaleswara temple in Halebidu is
believed to be the largest Shiva temple built by the Hoysalas, and is dated to
the 12th century.
●
One notable feature of Hoysala
architecture is the use of soapstone, a
malleable stone that is easy to carve. This is one of the reasons behind
the abundance of intricate sculptures one can see on the temple walls.
●
The sculptures include animals, scenes of daily life, as well as
depictions from the epics and the Puranas. The jewellery, headgear,
clothes, etc. of the detailed sculptures give an idea of the society of the
times.
●
Another special feature of Hoysala
architecture is the unique confluence of styles.
○
Hoysala architecture is an amalgamation of three distinctive styles—
the mainstream Dravidian architecture as represented in the Pallava and Chola
temples; the Vesara style, the variant of the Dravida style that emerged in the
Chalukya and Rashtrakuta temples; and then the North Indian Nagara style.
●
The temples are characterised by hyper-real
sculptures and stone carvings that cover the entire architectural surface, a
circumambulatory platform, a large-scale sculptural gallery, a multi-tiered
frieze, and sculptures of the Sala legend.
●
An interesting feature of Hoysala temples
is that they are ‘signed’ — the
sculptors, masons leave behind their names, and sometimes a few more details.
●
Also, these Vaishnava and Shaivya shrines
were built at the time Jainism was prominent in the region, and thus mark a
turn towards Hinduism.
●
While hundreds of big and small
Hoysala-era temples still survive, these three are believed to be among the
finest surviving examples of Hoysala art.